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re: Was Sterling's punishment too much? [W:359]

Originally Posted by grip

This is leading down a very slippery slope, where we allow Media outrage to guide our reactions, in a legal sense, towards the expression of someones opinion. Once you start limiting what people can say, you're only one step away from limiting ALL freedoms based on standards not rooted in the law. Mob rule is an appeal to emotions of common denominators, like anger, self righteousness and revenge, not reason, tolerance and justice.

This implies there was no genuine outrage. Is that what you think?

Expressing an opinion is not what he did. He expressed contempt for people based on their ethnicity. When you are a person that has authority and control over others that kind of bigotry matters. Your "opinion" can then actively harm others.

"Judge a man by his questions rather than his answers" - Voltaire
"There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow men. True nobility lies in being superior to your former self" -Hemingway

re: Was Sterling's punishment too much? [W:359]

Originally Posted by APACHERAT

I smell Sharpton and Jackson, they do things like that.

Which may very well be, but does not invalidate what I said.

We became a great nation not because we are a nation of cynics. We became a great nation because we are a nation of believers - Lindsey Graham
Iíve always believed that America is an idea, not defined by its people but by its ideals. - Lindsey Graham

re: Was Sterling's punishment too much? [W:359]

the only limit is that contained in the terms of the contract. I haven't read the contract but I expect Stirling has some really good attorneys and this could get messy

Correct, and I made that clarification in my first post on the topic.

I also find this reaction to be some self exorcism on the part of other owners who are falling over each other to kiss the ring of the PC god. Lots of those owners are equally odious assholes i suspect who want to pile on in order to divert attention away from some of their own issues

It is not PC to expect people to not act like douches and to react negatively when they do.

We became a great nation not because we are a nation of cynics. We became a great nation because we are a nation of believers - Lindsey Graham
Iíve always believed that America is an idea, not defined by its people but by its ideals. - Lindsey Graham

re: Was Sterling's punishment too much? [W:359]

The NBA can do what it chooses, but in this case they didn't. They buckled to a loudmouth minority population. They, and everyone else, needs to effectively tell them to go to hell.

You say they can do as they choose. They did. Then you accuse them of buckling to pressure. Could you pick an argument and then stick with it? If they choose to buckle to pressure, that is still their choice. Almost any business will "buckle to pressure" from their customers.

We became a great nation not because we are a nation of cynics. We became a great nation because we are a nation of believers - Lindsey Graham
Iíve always believed that America is an idea, not defined by its people but by its ideals. - Lindsey Graham

re: Was Sterling's punishment too much? [W:359]

Originally Posted by Gipper

For his racist comments caught on tape, Clippers owner Donald Sterling recently had this ruling put on him by NBA commissioner Adam Silver:

$2.5M fine (maximum allowed in by-laws)
Lifetime ban from NBA games
Lifetime ban from NBA function
Zero access to facilities during Clippers games and practices
Urging by the BoD to owners for forced divestiture of ownership

Was the hammer too great, or spot on?

Also to take into consideration:

He spoke these words on his private property
He broke no actual laws
His girlfriend broke the law by recording him without his knowledge

There weren't enough options in the poll.

It's their company if they wanted to do that to somebody for cutting their hair out wouldn't matter what I thought.

re: Was Sterling's punishment too much? [W:359]

Originally Posted by opendebate

This implies there was no genuine outrage. Is that what you think?

Expressing an opinion is not what he did. He expressed contempt for people based on their ethnicity. When you are a person that has authority and control over others that kind of bigotry matters. Your "opinion" can then actively harm others.

No he didn't, he expressed his contempt of some ethnic cultures or cultural customs. Sterling even mentioned his own culture and called it "my culture."

In some parts of the world there's a cultural custom of female circumcision, aka Female Genital Mutilation. If one doesn't approve of that cultural custom does it make one a racist ? If one is expressing his contempt of the cultural custom of female genital mutilation in private in his own home and he's recorded and it's released to the public, do those who practice that culture have the right to demand punishment for not accepting their culture ?

Not to many years ago many Americans weren't accepting the cultural custom of some ethnic groups who were wiping their butts and throwing the toilet paper on the floor. And there was the PC Police who would call those who didn't except that culture as racist.

re: Was Sterling's punishment too much? [W:359]

Originally Posted by APACHERAT

No he didn't, he expressed his contempt of some ethnic cultures or cultural customs. Sterling even mentioned his own culture and called it "my culture."

In some parts of the world there's a cultural custom of female circumcision, aka Female Genital Mutilation. If one doesn't approve of that cultural custom does it make one a racist ? If one is expressing his contempt of the cultural custom of female genital mutilation in private in his own home and he's recorded and it's released to the public, do those who practice that culture have the right to demand punishment for not accepting their culture ?

Not to many years ago many Americans weren't accepting the cultural custom of some ethnic groups who were wiping their butts and throwing the toilet paper on the floor. And there was the PC Police who would call those who didn't except that culture as racist.

Ya, it's disgusting on all fronts.

His comments were disgusting.

The woman who recorded and released private conversations is disgusting.

The reaction, ruining a mans livelihood based on his personal private beliefs is disgusting.

So, where do we go from here? Should we black list people from employment based on private conversations, the NSA is doing their part in logging those conversations, so, let's make sure that anyone expressing any opinion that might offend anyone has their lives ruined?